TEHRAN, Aug 5 (KUNA) -- Iran denied on Sunday press reports that kidnapped
Iranian visitors in Syria were "military personnel."
Official news agency quoted a well-informed source from the Iranian foreign
ministry as saying that using such reports in regard to the captured Iranian
convoy and kidnapped visitors who were traveling to Shiites' Zaineb Shrine,
have "no legal bases and are irresponsible act by the media."
Earlier, in a phone conversations held with his Turkish and Qatari foreign
ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani respectively,
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi requested both countries's immediate
intervention to secure the release of the abducted Iranians. Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs
Hussain Abdulahyian was quoted by Iranian media outlets as saying that the
kidnapping "operation was planned ahead, and aims to obstruct Iranian
supporting effort to Syria."
Last night, 48 Iranians travelling on a bus from the Damascus international
airport to Zainab shrine on the outskirts of the Syrian capital were abducted
by armed insurgents. (end)
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